Low Wage Workers May Not Be Able To Afford Health Insurance

Low wage earners may be victims of the new affordable care act which will become law soon. These individuals may not be able to acquire health insurance due to some gaps in the new health care act.

The new act is a double edge sword that will require workers to obtain health coverage or pay a penalty the following year, and at the same time require large companies to provide affordable options for health coverage.

The new law is fairly complicated in nature. It requires that companies which employ more than 50 employees to offer full time workers health coverage that must meet minimum requirements and not to exceed 9.5 percent of the employee’s wages. The penalty for not compiling with this new health care act will mean heavy fines.

This new type of health insurance math may be a financial hardship for the employee. If for example he or she makes 20,000 per year, a 9.5% premium would cost the worker $1,900 and the new law would still consider this within its affordable clause.

That is even before a deductible is applied which may be as high as $3000 per year.

Employees that have an affordable employer option will not be able to claim any tax credits that lower income people are able to deduct when they purchase health insurance on their own.

Presented with all this, it is feasible that employers could still make available health insurance plans that meet the stipulations of the new law but is still too costly for the low wage earner.

This still may or may not still be the case. Employers could still offer health insurance plans that meet the new act requirements and still within the low wage earners means.

Health insurance and the availability and affordability will be debated for years to come. Costs to companies and individuals will always play a part in future implementation of any health care laws. Law makers on both sides of the aisle may be induced to act on health care for a variety of reasons such as their constituents: demographics, ethnic, racial or sexual orientation.

The ultimate and bottom line of any new law should come down to the best welfare of the individual. This conclusion is probably based more on fiction then fact but who really knows. The book on health care affordability and coverage still needs to be completely written.

Lisa Longport is an author for [http://www.newyorkmedicaidapplication.com], a medicaid informational website.